Best gay friendly place for a working class lesbian couple w/kids??

[Ben Around]

Minneapolis. The Longfellow neighborhood is old, (20s/30s) traditionally working class with many lesbian couples having moved in. Lots of little shops and restaurants, including the city's pre-eminent Lesbian coffee shop. There are some great charter schools in the Twin Cities, also. It's a very safe, laid-back neighborhood, and the home prices are reasonable for the Twin Cities.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

A lot of cities nationwide are experiencing extreme heat, San Antonio and Austin are hotter than ever, and in the worst drought ever recorded. Most be global warming or Satan is getting closer to town, lol, something is up.
As far as the gay life in San Antonio, it is becoming more liberal, the new mayor was the emcee of the Gay parade, the Chief of Police hosted last years Gay pride at Hemisfair Park(Former Minneapolis Chief). San Antonio also has the highest percentage of gay couples raising childern in the country.

[Rachael84]

I think central Long Island would be a good fit. You see many gay couples with children, and it's very acceptable. Particularly Stony Brook, Port Jefferson area.

[ckhthankgod]

Another area that might work, if you can find a job, the Royal Oak/Ferndale area of Metro Detroit would be perfect. Diverse, especially Ferndale, has good schools(more Royal Oak), gay friendly, has some nightlife and is close to events in Detroit. Canada is close by as well. I know it is in Michigan, but those communities would be perfect.

[pixiespeace]

I'm from Atlanta, and if you're looking to get away from the heat, ATL is NOT the place. We have had snow for the last 3 winters, but only small dustings (maybe 1.5-2 inches) and Atlanta just got it's first White Christmas since 1882. However, the winters are VERY short and summers very long. Sometimes is too hot that it fries your garden... my experience. Sometimes it's so hot that bugs overbreed and it makes summer evenings hell, and destroys your garden.
We're a lesbian couple moving to gay-friendly Asheville. Summers average 84, and they get a decent amount of snow (especially to people coming from no-snow zones.) My experience is that Western NC has a perfect 4 seasons. The colors are absolutely BEAUTIFUL in the fall in Western NC, and there are outdoor activities all year round, usually within a few minutes from town. It's very artsy.
My family is mixed. We are a 24/31 year old lesbian couple with a bi-racial teenage son. Atlanta "can" be ok if you in the right spots, but sometimes that is hard to do. Asheville is very open-minded in comparison.
Traffic is HORRID in Atlanta, I honestly don't know how residents of Asheville can complain. We driven downtown Asheville in the busiest hours, and it is NOTHING compared to Atlanta traffic. Taking 40 minutes to drive 3 miles is not appealing in any case.
Asheville is definitely your "Friendly people, funky festivals, a slower pace overall."
My best friend lived in Austin and Asheville, and said Asheville takes the cake because there isn't that powerful heat, and it's more "small-town city", but with great nightlife and festivals and just everything.

[protagonist]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Louisville and St. Louis come to mind, though St. Louis doesn't have as many touches of the South as Louisville. Both are very affordable and apparently pretty liberal.

St. Louis will get hot, though probably not as hot as Texas. And the winters get cold, but are milder than Chicago. The housing stock is older. Finding a home 80-100 years old isn't that hard, especially in the city. How many bedrooms will you need? What's your budget? That would be helpful to know. S

outhern Missouri will have more southern touches, but there's not any major cities in Southern Missouri. Springfield has about 100,000, though. But from my experience in rural Southeastern Missouri, you'll probably get more looks here, though nobody will (most likely) actually say anything to you (because you're a lesbian couple with children). I live in rural Southeast Missouri and, unfortunately, most people I know here would probably look down on you. They have a right to believe what they want, but you might get some looks. When I was in High School I heard the "N" word here fairly regularly, stuff about Muslims being terrorists, homophobic terms (like about leaving all gays on a desert island and they would extint themselves because they can't have children like straight couples do), I've heard Jew used as an insult.

Anyway, St. Louis should be fine, as would be Kansas City. The city is generally pretty tolerant. And just visiting Southeast Missouri I don't think anybody would say anything to you, especially if you don't make your orientation well-known (most people would probably assume you were friends or sisters if they just saw you walking with your kids). But I'd be careful about living down here in rural areas. The landscape is beautiful, and the people in general are friendly, but behind closed doors people (especially high schoolers) will say very hurtful things. I mostly notice it at school, not at my church. But there's judgement there, too, though most of it is probably out of concern.

People around here aren's used to diversity, so they don't generally do as well with tolerating things that they don't agree with. If they don't agree with it, that's their right. But sometimes they have a hard time identifying with people who are more liberal and tolerant.

I'm not sure where you're from, but Springfield, population closer to 160,000, is nothing like you describe. Neither are any of the surrounding towns. I have never come across intolerance toward my family. You make Missouri sound much worse than it is and I take offense to that.

[Weatherguy]

This country has changed a lot for the better since the original post, so hopefully the OP has found a great place to live (I haven't read the thread since it is so old).